Parcel fun

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

I took one look at what I had sold, for what price, and just knew I was in trouble. Premium price widget at international, $60, shipping. Sure enough. Went to try Paypal shipping. Their system hybrided two CP options into one which did not provide what I needed. Can't get tracking or insurance. Called Paypal and they said what I expected "Go to the PO".

I firmly believe this parcel is going to get lost. Not sure why I believe this, I just do. $220 involved. It is NOT the customer's fault. I just wanna cover my skanky little butt.

Tried CP on-line. That wouldn't give me the options for the service I wanted. Go to the PO. Yeah, here's form to go to Russia. Yeah, there's insurance and tracking. Not sure about all of this, I go home and phone CP. Well, turns out I can't just use canadapost.com for rates and prices. Nosirree Bob. I gotta go in through business services. Go in that way and of course it is down and can't get the info.

I now know the info is lurking in there somewhere. Guy on the phone was super-helpful and super-patient. I thanked him endlessly and asked if this call was being recorded and gave him a message for mgmt. He snickered.

Went back to the PO with my parcel and paid the $81 to send it. Now I have a tracking number that I in-puted. Parcel is never gonna make it there, I just know it. INR will be opened, case will be found in my favour, customer will have no parcel and no money.

What do I do then? This is gonna haunt me for months.

Don't feel bad for me. Couple other sales today and I cleared $400 for a couple hours work.

[i*m-still-here]

Other than picking up very quickly that you're nervous about this package, I'm not quite sure why.

If it were me I'd double and maybe even triple insure.  It's probably a waste of money but better IMO better  than worrying about for months.

http://www.shipsurance.com/?refId=90

https://delta.u-pic.com/Order/Order.aspx#nogo

[pierrelebel]

Hi inuk_the_polar_bear .

Over the years I have shipped a lot to Russia.  Most parcels did in fact make it.

Do not worry so much.,  Things will work out 🙂

As far as double or triple insuring and paying double or triple the insurance premiums, that is a waste of money as it is illegal to make a double or triple claim for the same loss. Shipping insurance is not like buying life insurance!

In addition Shipsurance does NOT cover Russia.

http://www.shipsurance.com/questions.asp#GEN20 

"If the country you are shipping to is not on the list above (Russia is not) and you do not have an open policy with Shipsurance we cannot cover your shipment."

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

It is going to Russia. The last two parcels there went nyet. They were small $15 widgets that went for $10 shipping. This parcel is large and more valuable.

Buyer paid premium price. Maybe I am the only seller that is willing to sell to Vogograd, Russia?

It was annoying that Paypal is wrong, canadapost.com only had partial info, their business side was down, I had to make three phone calls and two trips to the PO. $81 later my azz is covered.

[pierrelebel]

"The last two parcels there went nyet"

Maybe, if you feel shipping to Russia is not worth the risks, you should remove Russia from the list of countries you ship to.

[i*m-still-here]

P*******  Must you put so much effort into trying to turn everything into a fight with me rather than address the issues at hand?

 I agree.  I see nothing to worry about either, but that does not alter the fact that inuk is indeed worried and deserves to be taken seriously.

You are correct.  It is illegal to make multiple insurance claims, and I'm a little surprised that you would imply that inuk would do such a thing.

Have a little faith in the polar bear!

As for your evil thoughts P******, I'm sure that if you take a moment and think about it you will understand that buying insurance from several sources is not the same thing as making multiple claims.

Shipsuarnce does not cover Russia but I believe that U-Pic does.

So then, IF you do opt for third party insurance do not waste your time considering shipsurance.

Just go right to U-Pic.

It often makes sense to double insure certain items. 

I do it on regular basis as a buyer.

Certain issues and items are not covered by the CPO which third party companies do cover.

And for Pete's Sake:  Should you be in the position of having to file claims, make sure that you do not "double dip."

I also want to point out to you that shipping insurance is no different than other forms of insurance.  One rarely collects and the real benefit is that it reduces stress when buying and selling internationally.

I'm sure if you do the math you will find that I am correct when I say that from a purely $s and cents point of view it make no sense () to pay out money for insurance in the long run.

Like other forms of insurance, you are paying for peace of mind.      

[pocomocomputing]

I did not see Pierre's comment as being a personal attack. The comment was informational and clear that making claims on multiple insurance policies was not allowed by most shipping insurance policy terms.

Stop looking for things that are not there.

And please do not go on for 10 more posts about this. End it now.

[pierrelebel]

"You are correct.  It is illegal to make multiple insurance claims, and I'm a little surprised that you would imply that inuk would do such a thing."

Of course NOT.  I would never suggest or imply that the op would do anything wrong.

Thre problem is clearly with YOUR advice to double and triple insure the parcel (to make a profit out of a lost shipment) and offering a link to an third party insurer who does not cover the parcel to Russia in any case.

It is BAD advice again, and again, and again.

.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Lighten up you two. Not entirely my point. I have always shipped anywhere, everywhere, blindly. That was easy on the $15 widgets. Suddenly, w/o warning, I went upscale. At the same time, postal guarntees went downscale.

More than anything, I got caught in an open switch today. My Spider sense started tingling. Yeah, I'm one of those, 99% right, too. I just wanted to cover myself on a $160 widget, $60 shipping to Volgograd Russia. Looked at the customer and they look solid. Looked at my Russian PO experience and ....

So, I decide to spend some of my profits on guarantees. Something I never, ever, no way, do. Figure I will ship through Paypal shipping. Nope.

That offered me "international air - small packet". That does not exist under CP. Under CP, there is:

Small Packet™-International Air

International Parcel-Air

So, Paypal hybrided the two and came up with a different title. That service had no tracking and only $100 insurance. I phoned Omaha. The guy was great. His hands were tied: "Go to the PO and upload what they give you."

Canadapost.com's services on "rates & prices" would not give me a tracking number, BUT, international parcel-air would allow higher insurance.

Go to the PO.

PO says i can have everything except signature and they hand me the form. I go home and phone CP. That took 2-3 tries pushing the wrong options. Guy on the phone was great. I made sure I said that out loud, several times.

In the end, I spent $81 of my customers $60 and got all the insurance and tracking to cover us both. I'm still way ahead on the deal as I build WTF into every transaction.

The thing that bugs me, and I hope it does not come to this, is the nagging suspicion that the parcel will not make it to the customer, yet, tracking will show that it does. I'm 35 years of retail. Ya don't take the customer's money w/o them getting what they paid for.

I have been waiting many years for a complicated delivery situation. I finally got it. Not sending was never an option.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Hang on, there is a point to all of this.

Paypal, eBay , USPS, CP, Russian PO, everyone says "Do it online for simplicy, cost, accuracy, uploading, downloading, proof, tracking numbers, speed, etc". I tried that and what did they all say in unison: "Go talk to the human behind the counter".

Just when I think it is time I stepped into the 21st century, this happens.

Life is good, trust me. Life is very good. I laugh hysterically at the absurdities. This was an absurdity.

"Go talk to the human"

[i*m-still-here]

Thre problem is clearly with YOUR advice to double and triple insure the parcel (to make a profit out of a lost shipment) 

Stating that I am suggesting that a poster defraud an insurance company certainly is a personal attack.

In fact, it's absurd.

I mean really out there.

There are very good reasons to double insure and most are perfectly legit.

In fact, I wan't even aware of the other kind until P********* brought it up.

Who isn't going to respond to an accusation and nonsense like that?

You would too!

[i*m-still-here]

The comment was informational and clear that making claims on multiple insurance policies was not allowed by most shipping insurance policy terms.

Again, I never mentioned making multiple claims.

Suggesting that I did is clearly offensive to me.

I suggested insuring in more than one place.  

I spoke with both shipsurance (a few years ago) and U-pic (about a month ago)  about this exact issue on the phone because I didn't know how to fill out the forms properly when double insuring.

Neither company thought there was anything wonky about it and they advised me exactly how to do it correctly with deductibles and so on.

It's a perfectly legitimate way to insure.